About.
Hello, I'm Pauline Holmes a post menopausal poet, performer and playwright with the mind of a child and the joints of someone much older.
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A past holder of the Kent Poetry Slam Championship, I've written articles for The Bookseller and featured in Woman magazine. I'm also the winner of the Inspired by Dogs poetry competition.
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An avid dog lover, my first collection of poems Talk to The Paw, written unashamedly for those who are at their happiest when covered in dog hair, was published by Whisky & Beards in January 2022. The first run of books sold out in under 10 days. It was subsequently re-printed three times and is currently out of print.
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I write and perform wherever someone will have me, including a run at the Edinburgh Fringe with my one woman show, Pauline Holmes Goes to the Dogs, a mix of poetry and storytelling written especially for those who allow their dogs to lounge on the sofa.
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I write with a gentle humour about love and loss in a way that is easily accessible and thought provoking.
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​Over the years I've been lucky enough to be commissioned to write for various organisations including Medway Council, Wordsmithery, Medway River Lit Fest, Kit Marlowe Theatre and Canterbury Cathedral. Talking of which, being part of the children’s story telling team at Canterbury Cathedral was enormous fun and a great excuse for some serious overacting!
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My first play, The Lion Queen, was a commission from Medway River Lit Fest. It's written a series of dramatic, poetic monologues charting the life of Ellen Blight, a Victorian teenage lion tamer who was killed by a tiger while performing at her uncle's travelling show when it visited Chatham. Yes, it is rather a dark story but has a warm humour lacing its way through what is largely a tale of love, loss, greed and blame. Great fun to write and better fun to perform, I played the part of the tiger who killed Ellen.
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When not at work or doing poetry stuff you’ll usually find me pottering about in the garden with muddy hands and leaves in my hair, sometimes playing in the woods with my dogs or out an about terrorising the neighbourhood on my bike.
